


Odds and Ends

by DrPaine



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: More to come as it goes!, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-05
Updated: 2015-10-08
Packaged: 2018-04-19 04:24:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4732712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrPaine/pseuds/DrPaine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A place for various requests/short works that I want to share, but don't quite feel worth a whole thing of their own. Ships/characters/etc are gonna be all over the place!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tarantism (Pearlmethyst-ish, tinge of Pearlrose)

> _It wasn’t the same, but it was close._

Even if she has to allocate all her focus to her movement, keeping so utterly restrained so as to not disrupt the projection that glides over the water alongside her. She can _almost_ touch and she thinks that’s good enough, when she sees Rose’s ( _the projection_ she reminds herself, it’s only a hologram) fingers just near her hand, hovering just over her waist as they– _she_ – dances. It’s a familiar routine, the one where they _first_ formed Rainbow Quartz– she’d had many dances over the millennia, some rather… _showy_ , true. But this one, oh!

It’s a simple dance, true, but that simplicity has always been part of the appeal. Slow, sweet and intimate…it always made her feel so… _special_. Important, appreciated.

_Loved._

And it still had, for a little while. She could close her eyes and even if she couldn’t touch, she could still imagine, and that was good enough.

_Had_ been good enough. But now, Pearl slows. Looks up at the hologram and it’s just not enough any more. Because even if her memory is as sharp as can be, blue light just doesn’t have the same warmth. Because there isn’t that wonderful heavy warmth of a hand on her shoulder or a touch of hair against her cheek, even the dance is wrong– they always _flowed_ , so free and happy, and here she was silent, stiff and 

alone. So very alone.

Pearl stops, crouching down; her shoulders trembling as she tries to _breathe_ , to calm herself like Rose had taught so long ago. But it’s not working– she only whimpers, her vision blurring so she can see only a bit of blue wrapping itself about her; just for a moment before it turns into nothing but a glittering haze.

The afterimage lingers a little longer even as she weeps, thin arms wrapped around herself in a vain hope that might be enough, but it _never_ is–

_“Hey P, your junk’s been fallin’… oh. H… hey.”_

Her head jerks up, eyes wide and she wants to scream when she sees Amethyst there, holding a sword and just _staring_. 

“It… go. Please,” Pearl says, shaking her head and looking down. Everything feels cold again, even being angry at Amethyst takes more effort than she has. Even when Amethyst just drops the sword into the water ( _this isn’t even where she keeps the swords_ ). Even when the smaller Gem takes her hands, thick fingers lacing in a firm but gentle grip.

“What are you doing?” she sighs, already resigned to the fact that making Amethyst leave would require so much more than she feels capable of right now.

“… you were dancing again, weren’t ya?”

“Yes,” she says, glancing up to meet Amethyst’s eyes. “So?”

Amethyst tugs at her hands and takes a step back.  Pearl sighs and rises to her feet, following Amethyst’s lead.

it’s not the same.

Because even if it’s clumsy, there’s something better about focusing on matching Amethyst’s movements, finding that _flow_ and when they do, she manages something near a smile.

_“There we go,” Amethyst laughs, halting the dance to wrap her arms around Pearl. And the hug might be a little tighter than Pearl usually likes, but here it feels… right._  
  
Better when it feels more like she’s hugging herself again. Four arms are much more of a comfort than two, after all.


	2. “I can’t breathe!” Lapidot?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Post Catch and Release; context is Lapis not recognizing 'our' Peridot now that she doesn't have the limb enhancers.

_“- and I… I’m kind of surprised, I didn’t think I’d meet a Peridot here!“_

_Lapis’ voice is bubbling– light and bright, like the springs Peridot had encountered on her Earthly travels; quite a change from the slow, drifting tone she’d had when first… recovered._

_Peridot rather likes it, even if she has trouble focusing on the actual words, fading in and out. More in, now, as Lapis wraps her arms about her knees and stares out over the sea.  
_

_Her voice still flows, but it’s slower now.  
_

_“I… I feel… bad saying this,” the blue Gem says, one hand tugging up tufts of grass. “But I was… a little… I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you much at first. But when I first got back to Homeworld, I… Peridots guarded me. Interrogated me, and one…”_

_She shudders, and Peridot is_ out _now, pressure building behind her gem and she feels… sinking. Scrambling. Processing that Lapis… but **how**? She hadn’t even been trying to hide her past affiliations, hadn’t denied who she was, what she’d done…_

_Has she changed so much?_

_Had she really been that bad?_

_It’s almost a pressure now, behind her eyes and she needs to calm, keep her hands still. Because she can feel Lapis staring at her, and dread builds in Peridot’s form because–_

_“Are you okay?”_

_‘I’m not, I can’t think **I can’t breathe** I’m sorry I thought you _ knew _I thought–’_

“There’s… something I should tell you…”


End file.
